COMPUTED

TOMOGRAP
HY

Limitations of
conventional
radiography

SUPERIMPOSITION

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Limitations of
conventional
radiography
TISSUE DIFFERENCE

SENSITIVITY: 5 10%
Difficulty in distinguishing
between homogeneous
objects of non-uniform
thickness
Poor Soft-tissue detail
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional
Tomography
Eliminates tissue superimposition
by blurring the structures above &
below the tomographic focal
plane.
Increases contrast of low subject
contrast tissues by varying
tomographic angle (distance of a
tube travel)
Ability to manipulate & adjust
image after scanning (digital
technology)
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional
Tomography:
what is it?

Greek word tomos:

section/slice/cutting
Tomography is imaging by
sections or sectioning, through
the use of wave of energy.
These 2-dimensional slices are
added to produce a 3dimensional image.
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT:
Evolution of terms

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Principle

FIRST-GENERATION COMPUTED
TOMOGRAPHY: In this scanner, a narrow xray beam is scanned across a patient in
synchrony with a radiation detector on the
opposite side of the patient.
Hounsfield termed his technique
computerized transverse axial
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
IIT BHU Varanasi
tomography.

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
First Generation CT

Multiple x-ray transmission measurements are obtained

by scanning a pencil-like beam of x rays and an NaI
detector in a straight line on opposite sides of the
patient..
The angular orientation of the scanning device is
incremented 1 degree, and a second translational scan is
performed.
This process is repeated through an arc of 180 degrees.
The measurements are transmitted to a computer
equipped with a mathematical package for
reconstructing an image.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Firsttechnique
Generation
CT
The scanning
employed by
first

generation CT scanners is referred to as

rectilinear pencil-beam scanning.
This approach yields satisfactory images of
stationary objects, but considerable time (4 to
5 minutes) is required for data accumulation,
and the images are subject to motion blurring.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Second Generation CT

Uses fan-shaped x-ray beams & multiple radiation

detectors so that multiple measures of x-ray
transmission could be made simultaneously.
Fan beam geometries with increments of a few
degrees for the different angular orientations
reduces the scan time to 20 to 60 seconds
ii. improve image quality by reducing the effects of
School of Biomedical engineering
motion
09/11/16
i.

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Second Generation CT

09/11/16

Translate-rotate
motion
Usually 18
translations with 10o
rotation between
translations
Multiple image
projections per
translation
School of Biomedical engineering
Head
& body imager
IIT BHU
Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Third Generation CT

Third generation CT scanners eliminate

the translational motion of previous
scanners and rely exclusively upon
rotational motion of the x-ray tube and
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
IIT BHU Varanasi
detector array.

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Third Generation CT
X-ray fan beam is used

X-ray fan beam is used Uses 360o rotateHundreds of radiation rotate motion, X-ray
detectors are
source & detector
incorporated within the array rotate in same
curvilinear detector
axis
array
Hundreds of image
The curvilinear detector
projects are acquired
array provides constant
resulting in better
distance between
source & each detector, contrast resolution &
resulting in good imagespatial resolution
reconstruction School of BiomedicalImaging
engineering
time is
09/11/16
IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Fourth Generation CT

Fourth generation CT scanners eliminate the

translational motion of previous scanners and
rely exclusively upon rotational motion of the
x-ray tube within a stationary circular array of
700 or more detectors.
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Fourth Generation
Suppresses ring CT
artifacts
Thousands of individual
detectors: detector array
Uses rotate-stationary
motion, x-ray source
rotates around a fixed
detector array
Somewhat higher patient
dose
Imaging time is 1s or less
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Fifth G: Electron Beam CT

Fast imaging: images obtained in

less than 100ms
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
X-ray Fifth
source: Generation
a focused, steered CT
&
microwave accelerated electron beam
incident on a tungsten target(not x-ray
tube)
Has no moving parts (half: detector array,
other half: target)
EBCT can produce upto 8 slices
simultaneously
Principle application:
cardiac imaging
Scan time as short as
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
50ms are possible IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
Sixth G: Spiral/Helical CT

If
theprinciple
CT imageradvantage
is caused to of
continually
The
spiral CT is
rotate
while to
theimage
patientlarge
couchvolumes
is moved of
the ability
through
the
plane, spiral CT results.
anatomy
inimaging
less time.
Spiral CT requires slip ring technology for
data transfer from
the rotating gantry.
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT Scan Machine:

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Conventional Tomographic
imaging:
First G & Sixth G CT

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

COMPUTED
TOMOGRAPHY
IMAGE
FORMATION
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT image formation:
THREE PHASES OF CT IMAGING

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT image formation:
THREE PHASES OF CT IMAGING

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT image formation
Scanning Phase:

Fan-shaped x-ray beam is scanned around

the body
The amount of radiation penetrating in
the
body is measured
using the detectors
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
IIT BHU Varanasi

CT image Quality
Five specific image quality characteristics of
CT are:
Contrast Sensitivity (very high for CT)
Blurring and visibility of Detail
Spatial (Tomographic slice or volume views)
Visual Noise
Artifacts
These are affected by
the protocol factor Values
that control the imaging
process
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT X-Ray Beam View

The projection of the
fan-shaped x-ray beam
from one specific x-ray
tube focal spot position
produces one view.
Many views projected
from around the
patient's body are
required in order to
acquire the necessary
data to reconstruct an
image.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT X-Ray Beam View

As the x-ray beam is scanned around the body,
forming many views, the data recorded by the
detectors are stored in computer memory for
later image reconstruction.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT complete scan

One
scan scan
produces
data
for one
A complete
is formed
by rotating
theslice
x-ray
image.
tube completely around the body and projecting
many views. with spiral/helical scanning,
However,
Each view
produces
onea"profile"
or line of data.
there
is not
always
one-to-one
relationship between the number of
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT Image
CT imaging produces a digital image (a matrix of pixels) for a
specific slice of tissue.
During the image reconstruction process, the slice of tissue is
divided into a matrix of voxels (volume elements).
A CT number is calculated and displayed in each pixel of the
image.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

X-Ray Tube Motions

There are two distinct motions of the x-ray beam

relative to the patient's body during CT imaging:

Scanning of the beam around the body

The movement of the beam along the length of the body
School of Biomedical engineering

09/11/16

IIT BHU Varanasi

Modes of Scanning

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Scan & Step Scanning

In scan and step scanning one complete scan around

the body is made while the body is not moving.
Then the body is moved to the next slice position.
The principle characteristic (and limitation) of this
mode is that the data set is fixed to a specific slice of
tissue. This means that the slice thickness, position,
and orientation is "locked in" during the scanning
phase.
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
IIT BHU Varanasi

Spiral/Helical Scanning
The patient's body is moved continuously as the x-ray beam is
scanned around the body.
This motion is controlled by the operator selected value of the
PITCH FACTOR.
Pitch value is the distance the body is moved during one beam
rotation, expressed as
multiples of the x-ray
beam width or
thickness.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Spiral/Helical Scanning
Pitch is the patient couch movement per rotation divided by
slice thickness

when the pitch is increased, the x-ray beam appears to move

faster along the patient's body. This has three major effects.
Scan time will be less to cover a specific body volume.
The radiation is less concentrated so dose is reduced.
There will not be as much "detail" in the data and image quality
might be reduced.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Extended spiral:
Pitch=2 i.e.
20mm/10mm
Contiguous spiral:
Pitch=1 i.e.
10mm/10mm
Overlapping spiral:
Pitch=1/2 i.e.
5mm/10mm

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Multiple Row Detector

Scanning

A body section
can generally be
scanned faster
with a multiple
row detector
system because
there are
multiple fan
beams scanning
simultaneously.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Volume Data Sets

A major advantage of spiral/helical
scanning it that it produces a
continuous data set extending over
some volume of the patient's body.
The data set is
not broken up into
slices as with the
scan/step slice
acquisition method.
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Reconstruction from
Volume Data Sets

The thickness, position, and

orientation of image slices can be
adjusted during the reconstruction
phase.
Images of overlapping slices can be
created.
The reconstruction can be repeated
to produce
images with
different spatial
characteristics.
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Image Reconstruction

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Algebraic Reconstruction
Technique
An iterative procedure
used to invert the projected data

to find the two dimensional distribution of the image.

An initial distribution is assumed and the projections are
calculated from this and compared with the measured
projections.
An error correction factor is calculated by dividing the
difference between the measured and calculated
projections by the number of elements (pixels) being
summed to make up that projection.
This correction factor is added to the appropriate pixel
to form the new pixel value. The process is repeated
until the estimated and measured projections agree
within the chosen error limit.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Fourier Reconstruction
In the spatial domain, CT reconstruction involves
the relationship between a two-dimensional image
and its set of one-dimensional views.
By taking the two-dimensional Fourier transform of
the image and the one-dimensional Fourier
transform of each of its views, the problem can be
examined in the frequency domain.
The relationship between an image and its views is
far simpler in the frequency domain than in the
spatial domain.
The frequency domain analysis of this problem is
called the FOURIER SLICE THEOREM.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Fourier
Reconstruction
In the spatial domain, each view is found by

integrating the image along rays at a particular angle.

In the frequency domain, the image spectrum is
represented by a two-dimensional grid.
The spectrum of each view (a one-dimensional signal)
is represented by a dark line superimposed on the
grid.
The Fourier slice theorem states that the spectrum of
a view is identical to the values along a line (slice)
through the image spectrum.
For instance, the spectrum of view 1 is the same as
the center column of the image spectrum.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Fourier
Reconstruction
Fourier reconstruction of a CT image requires
three steps.

First, the one-dimensional FFT is taken of each view.

Second, these view spectra are used to calculate the
two-dimensional frequency spectrum of the image,
as outlined by the Fourier slice theorem. Since the
view spectra are arranged radially, and the correct
image spectrum is arranged rectangularly, an
interpolation routine is needed to make the
conversion.
Third, the inverse FFT is taken of the image
spectrum to obtain the reconstructed image.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Back Projection

In backprojected
A
backprojection
more formal terms,
image
is formed
the
is very
point
by smearing
blurry.
spread
An
individual
sample
is backprojected
by
each
function
view
of
back
backprojection
through
the
is
image
circularly
in
A single point in the true image is
setting
all the
image
pixels along
the ray
the
symmetric,
direction
and
it
was
decreases
originally
as
the
acquired.
reconstructed
as
a
circular
region
that
pointing to the sample to the same value.
reciprocal
of
its
radius.away
The final backprojected
decreases
inSchool
intensity
image
from
is then
the
of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
BHU Varanasi
taken as the sum IITof
center.
all the

Filtered Back Projection

Filtering changes the views in two

Each
viewfiltered
is filtered
before
the
to
significant
ways.
First,
the
top of the
These
views
arebackprojection
then
counteract the blurring PSF. That is, each of the onepulse
is made
flat,
resulting
in the final
backprojected
provide
the
dimensional
views isto
convolved
with
a onebackprojection
creating
aauniform
reconstructed
image,
a close
dimensional
filter kernel
to create
set of filtered
views.
signal
level within
the"correct"
circle. Second,
approximation
to the
image.
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
IIT BHU Varanasi
negative spikes have
been introduced

Image Reconstruction

The scan data set is processed to produce

an image. The image is digital and consist
of a matrix of pixels.
"Filtered in filtered back projection refers
to the use of the digital image processing
algorithms that are used to improve image
quality or change certain image quality
characteristics, such as detail and noise.
"Back projection" is the actual process used
of Biomedical engineering the image.
to produce or School
"reconstruct"
09/11/16
IIT BHU Varanasi

Back Projection

Profile of the x-ray attenuation by the objects.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Back Projection

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT Numbers
A part of the reconstruction process is the
calculation of CT number values for each
image pixel.
The CT numbers are calculated from the xray linear attenuation coefficient values for
each individual tissue voxel.
The attenuation coefficient that is
calculated by the reconstruction process.
Water is the reference material for CT
numbers and has an assigned value of zero.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT Numbers

Tissues or materials with attenuation

(density) greater than water will have
positive CT numbers. Those that are less
dense will have negative CT numbers.
09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT Numbers
X-ray attenuation depends on both the
density and atomic number (Z) of materials
and the energy of the x-ray photons. For
CT imaging a high KV (like 120-140) and
heavy beam filtration is used. This
minimizes the photoelectric interactions
that are influenced by the Z of a material.
Therefore, CT numbers are determined by
the density of the tissues or materials.
CT numbers are in Hounsfield Units.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Digital To Analog
Conversion Phase

There
adjustable
The
digitalare
image,several
consisting of
a matrix of pixels
with
each pixel
having
a CT number,
converted into
factors
that
control
thisisprocess.
a visible image represented by different shades of
windowing
grayThe
or brightness
levels.has level and width

controls
School of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
BHU Varanasi
The area of theIITdigital
image that is

Windowing

The window is the range of CT numbers that will be displayed with the different shades of gray, ranging from black to white.
Tissues within the window will have different shades of gray/brightness & will have visible contrast.
All tissues & materials
that have CT numbers
above the window will be
all white & no contrast
within this range. All
below the window will be
black & without contrast.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Zooming

Zooming is the process of selecting some smaller area

within the total digital image to cover the full display.
It is in principle a magnification mode in that it enlarges
a small area.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

Characteristics of CT Image
Contrast Sensitivity
Detail (Blurring)
Visual Noise
Spatial Characteristics (Views, FOV, etc)
Artifacts

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

The Factors That Affect

Blurring and Image Detail

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

The Factors That Affect

Blurring and Image Detail
The focal spot size and the detector
dimensions determine the size of
each ray within the x-ray beam.
Small rays produce scan data with
"better detail".
Increasing the pitch has the effect of
reducing the data detail in the
direction of patient motion.
Small voxels produce images with
less blurringSchool
and
better detail.
of Biomedical engineering
09/11/16
IIT BHU Varanasi

The Filter Algorithm Used

To Decrease Noise Also
Blurs The Image

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

The Factors That Affect

Noise in a CT Image

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

The Factors That Affect

Noise in a CT Image
Reducing voxel size (to increase
detail) increases the noise because
fewer protons are absorbed or
captured in each voxel.
Noise can be decreased by increasing
the MAS, but this increases the dose
to the patient.
The selected filter algorithms can
either decrease or increase the noise,
it depends on which is selected.
School of Biomedical engineering

09/11/16

IIT BHU Varanasi

CT Image Artifacts
Streaks produced by metal and patient motion.
Regions with incorrect CT numbers.
The partial volume artifact occurs when a voxel contains two very different
materials, like bone and soft tissue. The resulting CT number will be
somewhere between the correct values for the different materials, but not
correct for either. Depending on how the window is set, a structure such as
bone, can appear either thinner or thicker than it's actual dimension.

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi

09/11/16

School of Biomedical engineering

IIT BHU Varanasi